The first step to our mock draft is to establish the list of players that will be available for the Las Vegas franchise to draft. To do this, we decided to have a blogger from each team represent their own franchise and select the players that will be protected from the Mock Expansion Draft available player pool. To see the rules which were followed to protect players, hit this link.

Next up, we have the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes are being represented by William Grigsby from HowlinHockey.com.

The team really needs to protect the young gun prospects so they are not stripped from the roster. Players like Domi, Duclair, Perlini, Dauphin, Dvorak are the future of this team.

Of course, the ONE player who will have the SAFEST spot will be the All-Star defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. He proved the last couple seasons, especially last season that HE IS THE FRANCHISE. His offensive skills are exceptional, and he may need to tighten up his defense a bit, but if he has a defensive partner who is a stay-at-home style D-man he will be fine.

Connor Murphy is coming in to his own as a solid, big, hard-hitting blue-liner who can only improve with time. He may need to get into the offense a bit more, since his shot from the point is not half bad.

Nicklas Grossmann could be kept but for now he’ll be left unprotected. This will continue to be the case come 2017 unless he shows that he belongs for more than his size. If he uses his size to his advantage, and can increase his speed, he may be protected, otherwise he may be gone.

The goalie situation has been as unpredictable as reasonably possible. Last season Smitty was just not himself. Smith did improve in the IIHG Championships, and now we will all see if it is enough to bring him back to the level of play expected of him.

The entire list of unprotected players that will be available for Team Lane and Team Pothier to select from can be found here.